Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Is Enrolling your Child in a Virtual School Still Homeschooling?

Just
read an article about the merits of virtual schools: is enrolling in a
virtual school that provides the whole curriculum still homeschooling?
What do you think?

In this article, through the virtual school the
students in all years (preschool to year12) are supervised at home by
their parent ('Learning Coach') and taught by state certified teachers
through online classroom technology, phone and email communication.
Teaching, testing, grading and motivating the children to learn is the
responsibility of the trained teacher. Homeschooling seems to be
moving more in this direction as families lose confidence in the school
system and parents are more familiar and comfortable with information
technology and the internet.

I applaud the ability we have
as home educators to carefully select resource to match our children's
learning needs and preferences - that's the foundation on which my
understanding of home education is built.

Distance education styled for adults also recognises the importance of being able to select resources to meet the individual's educational need.

Distance education for children is different though: it's compulsory
nature disallows the ability to select according to individual need.
Children are compelled by law to be educated and adults deem the how,
where and why of it.

The virtual schools discussed and
endorsed in the article I read supply complete curriculum packages are
private distance education schools for children: they are meant to
replace the parent as the person that determines the how, where and why
of education, reducing the parent to the role of supervisor.

We're not talking about parents picking up a few subjects (such as
Reading Eggs, Mathletics, etc or even a subject or two from Open Uni in
the teens years) here and there to meet individual children's needs -
we're talking about a service that is designed to meet the
organisational and management needs of parents who for whatever reason
don't want their children to be educated in this manner in a classroom
in a school.

It is exactly like doing distance education
through the state school system, except perhaps with less accountability
by the provider if the virtual school is not registered or accredited
as a school in Australia (an important consideration for 15-17 year old
students doing high school subjects).

The nature and
direction of homeschooling has changed since my family began educating
our children from home in 1985. The scope and practice of home education
has broadened considerably as it has become a visible and viable
option. 'Homeschool' or 'home education' took the school out of
education and placed the education of children where it belonged: in
busy homes interacting with busy communities. Now the 'school' is back,
claiming a legitimate place within home education as an option for
parents.

When I first noticed this trend arising (alerted to
it by the principal of my local school after a national meeting of
school principals on the topic of online learning and the effect it
would have on schools), I felt sad and worried that something of the
pioneering spirit of forging a new approach to education would be lost
and with it the powerful message that children learn best freed from the
limited resources and constraints of the classroom. I hope not. I hope
that the bold brave experiments in education of the last 40 years, with
home educators at the forefront, won't be succumbed to simply yet
another form of schooling, one that seeks to manage and control
education rather than focusing on the needs of individual learners.

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Author and active volunteer supporting and promoting education choice for families she continues to be an advocate for homeschooling and unschooling in Australia, participating in conferences and camps and contributing to newsletters and magazines. Visit http://theeducatingparent.com